Our thanks to the Midsouth field staff of SePRO, manufacturer of Brake®Herbicide,
for sponsoring this year's coverage.

OVERVIEW

Plant bug treatments have started on a limited, scattered basis in some of the
oldest cotton in the region. We’re not hearing about huge numbers but enough
plant bugs have been present to trigger occasional applications. More cotton is
squaring or will be to that point next week.

From our sponsor

Spider mite treatments are being made, mostly in Mississippi. Aphids are turning
up in some areas, as well, but nothing that would warrant an application. Thrips
continue to demand attention in places, although more cotton has grown past
the point that thrips are an issue.

Rains have fallen on a wide basis over the last week. The moisture will help in
places that have been dry for several weeks.

Delayed emergence will complicate crop management in some areas. Rains over the
last 7 days have finally brought up seed that were planted 3 or more weeks
earlier. In extreme cases cotyledon cotton has now emerged in fields with up to
7-leaf plants. We’re hearing reports about this in Mississippi and also in the
Tennessee Valley.

Midsouth states have received a Section 18 label for the use of Transform
insecticide in cotton for tarnished plant bug control. Connect to more info in
our Links section.

MIND IF WE CALL?

We’re always expanding our list of contacts, the
consultants, dealer personnel and Extension workers who provide the reports that
go into this newsletter. If you would like to occasionally provide a report, please let me know. We would call once every 4 weeks for a brief report on
cotton and other crops you work. If you have questions,
feel free to call me at 888-327-6329.

– Owen Taylor, Editor

CROP REPORTS

Trent LaMastus, Consultant, Cleveland, Mississippi: “Our cotton ranges
from cotyledon to pinhead square. Unfortunately, we can find both those sizes in
some fields at the same time, often in adjoining rows. In places, part of the
cotton emerged almost 4 weeks ago and then another round of it came up over the
weekend (6/4-5). We had a 5-week stretch without rain, and that kept parts of
some fields too dry for uniform germination.

“It’s not unusual to have a few spots like that here and there but I’ve never
had to deal with it on such a wide scale as we’re finding now. From a management
standpoint, we’ve got an intensive season ahead of us with those fields. This
variability will complicate everything from weeds to insect control to growth
regulators to harvest applications. Since these differences are scattered, we can’t manage parts of fields separately.

“We’ve had severe thrips pressure and mite damage, too. On the cotton that’s up,
we’ve sprayed 80% of it for thrips. I wanted to spray it again but then the
weather warmed up, which got the cotton going. So far, it appears that it’s
growing past the thrips and I haven’t treated any cotton twice. Even though we
had pressure, I wanted to save a few arrows in the quiver for later, if
possible.

“We began picking up mites on cotton 10 days ago (from 6/6), plus we’ve found a
few aphids but haven’t treated. I took my almost-4-year-old daughter, Marycelia,
into a cotton field for the first time and showed her thrips, spider mites and
aphids, with all of them on 2-leaf cotton.

“In older cotton we’re starting to see plant bug activity and they’re close to
threshold on some 7-node cotton, with the most pressure in cotton near corn. We’ll
be making herbicide applications after this last rain and will include something
for plant bugs in places. We’ll also be catching up on a lot of herbicide work
in cotton and soybeans. Pre herbicides never got activated when we kept missing
rain, plus it was too dry to kill anything with a contact material. Although
weeds were growing slowly, they shifted into second gear with this rain and are
definitely moving now.”

Gus Lorenz, Arkansas Extension IPM Specialist: “A lot of cotton is
transitioning from the fourth or fifth leaf to early squaring. Thrips are still
really bad in spots. In some of my seed treatment and in-furrow insecticide
plots they were hitting 150 to 250 on 5 plants in untreated checks. In other
plots the treatments were helping but the numbers were still high.

“The best treatment I’ve looked at this year has been aldicarb. It’s performing
as well as it did in the ‘old days’ when it was called Temik. I think it’s doing
as good as it always did but we’ve just forgotten how well it performed. With
resistance issues, the seed treatments also are showing a little wear and tear,
and that really makes the aldicarb shine.

“I’m hearing about low levels of plant bugs on some early squaring cotton but
very little of that has been at treatment level. We’re not seeing spider mite
activity like they are in Mississippi, but it’s been a little drier on that side
of the river.”

Lee Rogers, Rogers Entomological Service, Steele, Missouri: “We’re
pretty much out of the thrips stage now (6/6). Most cotton has 5 to 7 leaves.
Thrips were fairly heavy last week and I think most of the cotton was sprayed at
some stage. I’m finding a little squaring but I’m sure a lot more cotton will be
to that point by next week. It’s gotten hotter, which should push the plants.
It’s 89 right now (afternoon, 6/6), and that’s what cotton has needed. We got up
to 5 inches of rain last week from Wednesday to Friday. Fields are just drying
up enough that equipment can start running again.”

Larry Walker, Walker Cotton Technical Services, Flintville,
Tennessee: “It rained over the weekend (6/4-5), which made a big difference in
how things look. Thrips have disappeared, thank goodness. We had about 2 inches
of rain in April and 2.5 inches in May, with none of that in the last 10 days of
May. But in the last 4 days (from 6/6) we’ve gotten 1.5 to 3.5 inches from several events.

“Our biggest cotton is at 5 leaves and we’ll have squares soon. We’re now in
that period before plant bugs. We have water and also have addressed weeds, so
things are in pretty good shape. Emergence was somewhat erratic and delayed on
the red knolls, so in some fields we have both cotyledon cotton and plants at 3
to 4 leaves. We can manage that, and at least we have a stand.”

David Skinner, Agronomist, CPS, Macon, Mississippi: “Most of our
cotton is at 5 to 6 nodes, and some of it is just starting to square. We also
have fields that are somewhat earlier than that and some are a bit later. We’re
spraying a few plant bugs in the most advanced fields and also are treating
thrips in places in later cotton. No real emergencies are shaping up, just
enough insects in places to warrant treatment. Everybody in our area planted all
the cotton they wanted.”

Travis Vallee, CenLa Ag Services, Pineville, Louisiana: “Cotton looks
good. Layby will be going out on most of it, although it will be the middle of
the week before it will be dry enough. We got about 3 inches of rain across a
big part of the area on Friday and Saturday (6/3-4), plus a good rain fell the
week before. Pix will be going out when it’s dry enough.

“We’re treating a few hundred acres of early cotton this week for plant bugs. We
can find a few plant bugs in all the fields that are squaring good, although
we’re mostly holding off on treatments. Counts really aren’t enough in most
fields to worry us yet, plus retention remains high. Except for 700 to 800
acres, all of our cotton is squaring now.”

Blake Foust, Consultant, Southern Heritage Cotton, LLC, Forrest City,
Arkansas: “It’s dry enough now that people are getting in the fields. In most
places we’ve gotten about what we need in terms of moisture. We’re trying to
clean up pigweed now. With all the rain over the last several weeks we couldn’t
get in the field with herbicides, so now we’re trying to apply Liberty. We’re
about out of the thrips stage and some of our cotton is up to the ninth node and
moving along. Overall, cotton looks pretty good.”

Scott Stewart, Extension Entomologist, Jackson, Tennessee: “We’ve gone
a few days without rain, so the weather has improved considerably in West
Tennessee. However, people in Middle Tennessee and some other areas are saying
it’s too dry. Thrips are kind of on the decline and most cotton is growing out
of
the susceptible window.

“Next week we probably will see plant bug applications starting in some of our
oldest cotton. In places, we’re at 6 to 7 leaves but most of the crop is at 4 to
5. To me, this has been a fairly typical start to the cotton crop in West
Tennessee, although maybe a little cooler than usual. We’ve received
notification that Transform will be available for controlling plant bugs in
cotton in Tennessee this year.”

David Kerns, Entomologist, Louisiana State University, Macon Ridge
Research Station: “Cotton looks much better now that we’ve got a little heat and
sunshine. I’m seeing a few hits from spider mites. So far, it’s nothing that
would raise an alarm or prompt a treatment. But they are out there, and if it
turns dry and hot for a while, that could push them. Also, if we have to spray
any squaring cotton for plant bugs, that could flare mites, depending on the
material used.

“I’m hearing about and seeing a few cotton aphids, just small populations. Like
the mites, I don’t have any concerns about them right now (6/7) but they could
blow up. Acephate for plant bugs could flare mites and aphids under the right
circumstances.

“On a really positive note, Louisiana was one of the states this week that received a
Section 18 registration for Transform to control tarnished plant bugs in cotton.
We’ll get up to 4 applications.”

Angus Catchot, Mississippi Extension Entomologist: "A lot of our
cotton area received a good, general rain over the last week, so things are
looking up. We are dealing with uneven germination in places, both in the hills
and the Delta. In a single field you might find cotton at the fifth leaf, some
more at the second leaf and then cotyledons. I gather that there may be some
examples that are even more extreme than that. We’ll have to deal with these
differences well into the season.

“Our oldest cotton has been squaring for a while. I’m a little surprised at how
few plant bugs people are finding. That will change, I’m sure, but here on the
early side we’re saving that first application for later. Thrips are winding
down but some spider mite treatments have been going out in both the hills and
the Delta. It’s been several years since we’ve had to treat much acreage for
mites in pre-squaring cotton. I think this directly relates to the
thrips sprays in combination with dry weather. All that gave mites an opening.”